Saturday, November 18, 2006

How cool is The Script? It's been a while since I've seen The Script actually crawl out onto the field. Usually they just show the fully formed "Ohio" with the Sousaphone player taking his bow. You forget how amazing it is to see it actually form.

And sloppy officiating. It would have been a shame if the game had turned on an inexplicable interference call in the first half and an equally inexplicable interference non-call resulting in an interception. Thankfully, the Buckeyes overcame the setbacks.

Although it's been said many times, many ways, Brent Musberger is an idiot. After the Blue Meanies score on the first drive: "So Troy Smith again will have to come back in the fourth quarter as he has done before in this game." Unfuckinbelievable.

Michigan acquitted themselves well -- well enough that a rematch at least belongs in the conversation about the BCS. If USC or Arkansas run their respective tables, they close out the real argument. If each of those teams ends up with a loss, with Notre Dame beating USC, people will argue for the Irish, but given that Michigan was their daddy at home this season, it's a tough argument.

Antonio Pittman graduated from Buchtel. Chris Wells graduated from Garfield. If the levy hadn't passed, APS would have been forced to cancel varsity sports programs. I'm just sayin'.

This is the dead opposite of 2002. That year, OSU earned the right to serve as sacrificial lamb as Miami rolled to another national championship. Then: Surprise! This time the Buckeyes go in as the consensus number one. They get the pressure to prove it one more time against someone just happy to be in the show.

3
comments:

I think OSU is the better team when considering the three turnovers by OSU that spotted 10 points for Michigan and questionable officiating that seemed to give Michigan the benefit of the doubt.

Ted Ginn got facemasked in the first quarter, there was pass interference on the interception play, and I felt that the pass interference call that led to Michigan's last touchdown was picky. The ball was thrown short and the little contact did not seem to affect whether the ball would have been caught. I know of the technicality of the defensive player having his back to the ball, but again, there was little contact and the ball was thrown short. Plus, I don't think the Michigan receiver made much effort to go after the ball, which would have then made the interference very clear.

Also, on the punt where OSU was flagged for roughing the center, it was not an egregious hit. It was just a light push. By all means, the OSU player should not have done that, but there seemed to be a double standard as far letting players play. I know the roughing the quarterback was called against Michigan in the fourth, but that was a no brainer. It was clearly helmet-to-helmet and out of bounds, so the hit was definitely malicious.

The problem is that the officials allow themselves to be influenced by Lloyd Carr's constant badgering. They know that if they make a big call or non-call against Michigan, they are going to get barked at.

Putting all that aside, I think Michigan clearly made a legitimate case for a rematch in the national title game. However, if USC and Florida win out, they could argue that Michigan had their chance against OSU and that someone else should get a shot. I would not allow that same argument for Notre Dame because they got spanked by Michigan earlier in the year.

Unfortunately, the two best teams don't always get to play in the last round. Often times, the two best teams play in an earlier round. Look at the NBA last year. The top two teams in the west (Dallas and San Antonio) met in the semifinals instead of the conference finals. In 2002, the Western Conference Finals (LA and Sacramento) was the true NBA Finals. Everyone knew that the winner would beat New Jersey in the Finals.

You do the best you can to ensure that the top two teams play in the final, but it doesn't always work out that way. At very least, you make sure that every team had a legitimate chance to make the final.

If you thought Script Ohio looked good on TV, you should have been in the stands to see what I have to say was the best halftime show ever. The OSUMB did a tribute to Hollywood which included the bicycle from ET, which moved across the field complete with the wheels moving. They followed that up with Titanic where the ship actually broke in half and sank behind blue tarps on the sidelines. Then came Pirates of the Caribbean complete with a pirate ship rocked back and forth. After that, the band moved into Star Wars where the did formations of Darth Vader's mask, Yoda's face and a star fighter.

So much for the band, I really went to see the game, and what a game it was. I have never heard the stadium that loud. The Buckeye Nation did their best to really make a lot of noise when Henne was under center and caused them some confusion when he was calling audibles.

Although emotions were high, the Buckeye fans were cordial toward the Michigan fans in the crowd. My brother is a U of M grad and said that the fans were nicer this year than they had been in years past, which is odd considering what was on the line on Saturday, but perhaps Bo's demise on Friday had something to do with it.

In terms of a rematch, I don't think that is a good idea. First of all, if it happens and Michigan somehow wins, how screwed up would it be to have Ohio State as the Big Ten champs and Michigan as the National champs. Both teams would be 12-1, so who is truly the better team? I don't think that game would solve anything. I only hope USC can win-out so we don't have to deal with any of this. If not, all I can say is: